Tag Archives: travel

This week, the Weekly Photo Challenge is journey. I would like to take you on a journey… a journey to find the ultimate outhouse. This is an essential search when travelling to the northern parts of Canada, where towns are few and far between.

the endless highway... on and on and on.... not an outhouse in sight.

Sometimes the outhouse is out in the middle of a field with a small parking lot and nothing else around. It seems all exposed and alone.

In the middle of nowhere

I wondered about the sign on the door.

WHAT?? Really? At what age can we leave them?

Do people tend to drive off leaving a child in the outhouse?

This cute little blue one was on a bit of a tilt. The bushes are growing around it. The door was left open. Is it safe? I was a little skeptical.

Is this safe to use? Maybe in a pinch. How desperate am I?

Some are doubles, Men on one side, Ladies on the other.

A family the pees together....

Is this an outhouse or and in-house? I suppose it was much preferred over going outside in the middle of a dark and cold night, but I would hate it in the morning.

I am glad I am living in the era of indoor plumbing.

Some Outhouses are super fancy, dressed up with plants and flowers, covered in vines. A treat for the weary and desperate traveler.

wonderful.. this outhouse is complete with flush toilets, a shower, laundry and books, if you are planning a longer visit.

Sometimes, there is a conveniently placed outhouse, but one has to wait for a turn. I waited and waited and waited and waited.

He looks a bit constipated... I wish he would hurry up.

After a long drive, searching for a sign, desperate for a rest stop, I was ready to give up and find a conveniently located bush when “what to my wondering eyes should appear”, but a cute little log outhouse nestled in the bush. I was so excited and about to be relieved.

Isn't this sweet.. a log outhouse...

I opened the door. Maybe…

I have waited so long... maybe...

Maybe not.

Absolutely NOT !!

It was time to find that bush.

A little way down the road.. I was caught.

outhouse relief.

I hope you enjoyed the journey. If you plan a trip to the far north, I can tell you that I have become an expert in finding relief behind a bush.

The Dempster Highway starts in the Yukon, and continues into the Northwest Territories. We travelled for 734 km on the dirt highway, our destination: Inuvik.

We had to quickly shut the windows to protect us from the dust storm this transport truck kicked up.

The highway is built up above the permafrost. It is hard to see the steep drop on the side of the highway. We did not want to slide over the edge on this journey. I am glad there was not too much oncoming traffic.

The journey continued to the Mackenzie River. As we drove down the mountainside could see the community of Tsiigetchic as we descended to the river. There is no bridge. We had to catch the ferry.

The crew allowed us to climb up to the top deck, past the “no admittance” sign so that I could take some photos. I could not resist a photo of our very dirty van.

The ferry was not busy, they let us climb up to the "crew only" area

A great view of the approaching “dock”. The ferry simply runs up against the gravel, lowers the ramp and we drive on and off the ferry.

The road is built right to the edge of the river. The ferry is an extension of the Dempster Highway and is free.

We made it to the final leg of our journey to Inuvik , NWT Canada, home to the famous Igloo Church.

My eyes were wide open. We drove so slowly along the winding, narrow road. We wanted to take in the beauty and wonder of the Needles Highway. Custer State Park is in the SW corner of South Dakota. This is a perfect place for this weeks challenge : Weekly Photo Challenge: Through A brochure at a tourist center caught our attention. We knew we wanted to check this out and I am glad we did. The rock formations are unique. The highway is winds through the Black Hills.

The rock formations resembled needles

The highway is built on the edge of a cliff.

Approaching one of the tunnels

If you cannot go around it and you cannot go over it, you have to go through it.

Driving through the very narrow tunnel

The Highway has many spectacular sights yet the most famous is the Eye of the Needle. A rock formation formed by the power of the wind, the rain, the snow and ice. Mother Nature had fun making this famous spot.

We could see through the eye of the needle.

If you are ever in South Dakota, do not miss this short yet spectacular drive. Leave plenty of time. It is only 8 or so miles, but you will need lots of time because you will want to stop over and over.

“Bear watching” teaches us how bears interact in nature. We were in the beautiful Pukaskwa National Park of Canada on the shores of Lake Superior. It was in September of 2011. We stopped to photograph a couple of Black Bears.

The bear and her cub were just off the highway. We pulled over to snap a quick photo. They did not seem to mind the photo session and carried on as if we were not intruding on their day.

"Son, I know you are getting to be a big boy, but you still have to listen to your mother."

It is Daylight Saving Time, the geese are returning home from their vacation and Sydney has a new spring in her step.

We put the leash on Sydney and walked to the lake to enjoy the sun.

The ice is melting in the creek.

The ice on Lake Simcoe is starting to melt. All the fish huts have to be removed from the lake by March 15th, but I worry that it is already unsafe. There have already been a few ice rescues and sadly some tragedies.

help...the ice is sinking.

Luckily, it is not deep at this spot. Sydney was able to scramble out and shake off the icy water.

For this weeks challenge, I thought I would post a few photos I took last summer while on an extended roadtrip. These photos emphasize a contrast in size.

The largest Dump Truck in the world

We crossed the border from Alberta into BC and arrived in a beautiful little town nestled in the Rocky Mountains, in the southeast corner of the province. Sparwood is a small coal mining town on the Elk River. They have lots of scenic hiking and mountain biking trails in the area and lots of opportunities to enjoy the water. You can spend your time either fishing, kayaking or canoeing in the Elk Valley. Sparwood is also home to the largest tandem-axle dump truck in the world! Built by General Motors of Canada, the 1974 Terex Titan – all 350 tonnes, 66 feet and 3,300 Horse Power of it – lives in Sparwood, Home of the Titan. Two Greyhound buses and 2 pickups can fit into the box!

These photos of the Titan show how small we are in contrast to this Monster truck. I am 5’6″ and my husband is 6’3″ tall, yet we are dwarfed beside the wheels of this dump truck.

Can you believe I took some distorted photos at the zoo? Sure, I got some of animals too. We took some of our grandchildren to the Toronto Zoo on Saturday. We had a great time. It was really windy and cold outside and hot and humid in the indoor exhibits. On one of the pathways through the woods, there is a giant convex mirror for the zoomobile to see around the corner. The children had fun looking at their distorted images.

A convex mirror reflects a distorted, but wider view.

The children enjoyed learning about snakes and especially about the Massassauga rattlesnakes that can be found in Ontario.

My husbands thermal image is displayed as he reads about how a snake would view him.

The children had fun looking at their own thermal images. When I saw the images, I thought of the Photo Challenge topic this week. Distorted. These images clearly show a distorted image of my husband and my grandson Jacob.